Shohoz: Paving the Way for a Truly Digital Bangladesh

"After 18 years of studying and working across the US and Asia, I came back to Bangladesh to bring all the convenience enjoyed through tech. Why? I firmly believe that technology alone can solve most of the challenges a typical to a developing country. Proper adaptation of tech can make us a developed nation, much faster than our current pace. In the 5 years since our inception, we have seen how that happen, through the adaption of Shohoz by millions of people," said Maliha Quadir, founding Managing Director of Shohoz. True to her words, one of the most trusted digital brands in the country today, Shohoz, has indeed made its mark in the digital transformation of the country.

In 2015, Shohoz began by addressing the most challenging problems Bangladeshi faced in their day-to-day lives by digitizing the online ticket booking process. After 3 years, it launched ride sharing, food delivery and truck rental services, transforming the way Bangladeshis travel, eat and move goods.

As a response to the pandemic, Shohoz launched Shohoz Health to increase access to proper healthcare. Shohoz also worked with the Bangladesh government to build the Corona Tracer App BD. As the pandemic continues to disrupt the education system, Shohoz's new addition is Shohoz Learn, an ed tech platform offering e-books from the world-renowned publisher Scholastic.

Shohoz and the role of tech in Bangladesh

With its all-in-one service ecosystem, Shohoz has evolved to an innovative every day, everything platform that empowers people and businesses to collectively work towards building a truly Digital Bangladesh.  In many ways, the work that Shohoz has done demonstrates the possibilities that could expedite our growth, if extended to more sectors. Daily Star met up with the founder to hear her thoughts on these possibilities.

Growth in gig economy (freelance jobs) can create millions of jobs with basic skills, giving an immediate lift to our GDP/capita. Bangladesh's biggest asset is its 60MM strong young blue-collar population, 7th largest in the world. Embedding them to the global knowledge economy would give massive dividends. Shohoz Ride and Shohoz Food are homegrown examples of such gains. These services created 300k micro-entrepreneurs. Every day we hear incredible stories of how our riders and deliverymen are paying for their education or adding a much-needed additional source of income through our services.

 

Digitizing businesses can open doors to efficiency and financial inclusion

Credit and movement are the wheels of the economy. Businesses grow faster if they have the requisite funding, streamlined processes and efficient movement of goods. Digitization can totally transform us in all of these dimensions.

With Shohoz Food, we have partially digitized sales of some 10000+ restaurants and retail businesses.  Digitization of sales records, will help them get easier access to bank loans. Shohoz Ticket has truly revolutionized the immensely offline bus industry, ending the legacy of operational inefficiencies in double seat booking and inaccurate account keeping.  Bus operators now have better visibility of their businesses and give customers better service, leading to more profits and access to credit. Through Shohoz Healths telemedicine services, patients can now easily access 100+ doctors remotely. Shohoz Truck, I believe is a service that could truly transform Bangladesh. By digitizing the supply chain management, we are eliminating the inefficiencies in the offline demand-supply matching process. As fewer trucks go empty, capacity utilization increases leading to more efficient pricing and faster movement of goods.

Education, education, education…improving its quality could revolutionize our country

A better educated population is analytical, thoughtful and makes more prudent everyday decisions. Collectively, these micro-decisions create a strong economy.  In our little endeavor to contribute to this, we are excited to be launching our Shohoz Learn platform.

 

Proactively branding the great story of success of Bangladesh would foster much needed FDI

"In my 6 years of raising venture capital funding, I have seen a lot of lack of understanding of the amazing story of growth of Bangladesh amongst foreign investors. We need to hire a professional international PR firm to tell that story to the rest of the world." adds the founder. The startup ecosystem has done a lot of 1-1 showcasing of Bangladesh to foreign investors. Shohoz was the first startup to attract international investors in 2014. Subsequently, it had brought a lot of FDI from well revered international investors.

 

Future Plans

So, what's next for Shohoz? The company looks to expand its digital footprint by growing its services further. Maliha alludes that in addition to digital services, increasing financial inclusion, will create the greatest impact for Bangladesh. To that end, Shohoz is working on its fintech strategy.  'We will not rest until we have made life truly easy for the people of Bangladesh,' said Maliha Quadir.